(11) A group of material may be divided on several different bases. "Use" or "purpose" or "object treated" may be adopted only when the "use" or "purpose" or "object treated" stamps upon the invention such peculiarities of operation or construction as to limit the applicability of the invention to the use or purpose named. (See Basis of Classification, Rule 1.) A group based upon mode of operation also may be divided into subclasses (1) with a "functional" title, usually participial in form, and adapted therefore to receive machines, processes, and tools; (2) with special use, purpose, or object-treated title containing the name of the use, purpose, or object; (3) with "type" title, usually a name or a name with a qualifying adjective; (4) with a title of a part or subcombination, also a name.

Example: In Class 90, Gear-Cutting, Milling, and Planing, are to be found subclasses entitled "Gear-cutting," certain machines being peculiar to that use; also other subclasses with the general functional title "Planing," subordinate to which are the special use subclass "Planing, Soft metal," and the type subclass "Planers" divided into two coordinate subclasses, "Reciprocating bed" and "Reciprocating cutter," and several subordinate "part" subclasses, including "Tool-feeds" and "Tool-heads." The adjective form of the title "Planers, Reciprocating bed," indicates a type subclass. If the title had been Planers, Reciprocating beds, the indication would be that the subclass was a part subclass to receive planer beds only. In the class referred to for illustration, "Tool-feeds" and "Tool-heads" indicate subclasses for parts and not for types of planers having tool feeds.

(12) In arranging the divisions of a class, such arrangement should be sought as will minimize the need of cross-references. Search for any particular matter can not always be limited to one group without such extensive cross-referencing as would in some cases defeat the purpose of classification. Forming the subdivisions of a class according to the total similarities of the inventions, rather than according to some selected more or less important characteristic, and arranging them in the correct order of superiority and inferiority, with care to maintain throughout the schedule the relative positional values of the several selected bases of division, will ordinarily in a closely bonded class limit the search for any single invention to the subclass particularly suited to receive it and some subclasses preceding that one, excluding from the necessity of search the subclasses succeeding.

Example: In Class 80, Metal-Rolling, it would not be expected to find any tube-rolling mill lower in the schedule than the tube-rolling subclasses, but a tube-mill might be found higher up in "Heating and rolling," "Drawing and rolling," etc. No concave and roll combination should be found succeeding the subclass of "Concave and roll," but it may be found under subclasses above, such as "Tubes, Screw-threads," etc. No rolls should be found lower than the subclass of "Rolls," but they may be found in many subclasses above.

DEFINITION.

(13) Having some knowledge of the nature of the materials about to be classified, a tentative definition of a class to be formed may be framed, which may be either written down or merely carried in mind, to serve as a tentative guide. This tentative definition must be considered as subject to change to any extent by the fuller knowledge obtained by careful consideration of the material. After a full knowledge of the materials to be classified has been acquired, it will be necessary to frame a careful definition of the class, and also of each subclass whose title does not unequivocally indicate what is contained in it.

(14) A definition of any class should state the "qualities and circumstances possessed by all the objects that are intended to be included in the class and not possessed completely by any other objects." A proper definition should not ordinarily contain the name of the thing defined. "Definitions in a circle" are, of course, worthless. A definition should be exactly equivalent to the species defined and should not be expressed in obscure or ambiguous language, but should employ terms already defined or perfectly understood. It should not be in negative form where it can be affirmative. If the class of objects has a peculiar property, the naming of that may serve as a definition. If no peculiar property can be detected, the definition should name more than one quality or property. Several different classes may have one or more properties alike, but as the number is increased the likelihood of there being others having the same properties is decreased. The briefest possible statement of such properties or qualities as are possessed by all the objects of a class and not completely possessed by any other objects, which will suffice to distinguish the class from other classes and determine its position in the general classification, will be most satisfactory. To define any species, the genus having been defined, the genus should be named and the difference added. Of course, no generic definition should contain any limitation not characteristic of every species of the defined genus. In seeking qualities by which to describe a genus or species, no accident should be selected.

Example: Suppose there be marked out and defined as a genus all means whereby one form of energy is transformed into another form of energy and no more, and the genus be named energy-transformers. We may then name, as species, energy-transformers that are motors and energy-transformers that are not motors. Motors may be defined by merely naming the genus energy-transformers, and stating the difference, to wit, continuously transforming energy into cyclical mechanical motion. Then the definition will be: Energy-transformers that are adapted to continuously transform energy into cyclical mechanical motion. The non-motor division will retain the genus definition.

It would not be illuminating for a searcher having little familiarity with the textile arts to look under the title "Carding" and find that carding is defined as a means for carding fiber.

Even though the first steam-engine invented had been used to run a gristmill, the accident of its use as a part of a gristmill would hardly warrant the definition of a steam-engine as a means to grind corn. Nor would a hammer be properly defined as an instrument to drive nails or to crack nuts or to forge horseshoes, even though a patent should not mention any use other than one of these and should lay heavy emphasis on the special value of the hammer as a nut cracker, nail driver, etc.

(15) In those cases where the title is so obvious that definition is superfluous, explanatory notes may be substituted and will usually be found helpful.

CROSS-REFERENCES AND SEARCH-NOTES.

(16) Inasmuch as nearly every patent discloses unclaimed matter that is classifiable separately from the claimed matter, it is clearly impossible to cross-reference every disclosure of every means in every patent. Many things must be taken as conventional, obvious, or well known, and the good judgment of the classifier is bound to be exercised in cross-referencing matter disclosed but not claimed to be the invention of the patentee.

(17) A mere part or element should rarely be cross-referenced from an element class to a superior combination class. An element forming part of a combination in a superior class should, if claimed, be cross-referenced to the element class and also if not claimed if it seems to be not merely a conventional form, and patents having claims for more than one differently classifiable invention should always be cross-referenced unless such an arrangement of subclasses with search-notes is substituted as will guide the searcher to all places where the material may be found. Claimed matter additional to that which controls the classification, if belonging in the same class, should be cross-referenced into a succeeding subclass. Cross-references of unclaimed disclosure may be in either direction.

(18) To supplement or take the place of cross-referencing, more or less elaborate search-notes are needed, giving directions and suggestions for further search, setting out the relationship between classes and subclasses, and drawing distinctions by example. Search-notes should indicate other classes or subclasses in which the subject-matter of the group to which the search-notes are appended is likely to form a part of a more intensive combination, also analogous matter that might serve as a reference for a broad claim. They need not, in general, indicate where parts or elements of the subject-matter which are common also to other classes can be found, because the index of classes contains the necessary information. For example, it is not necessary in every machine-class to indicate by search-notes where machine-elements and static parts may be found, nor in a class of wooden boxes to point out where the nails, screws, hinges, or locks that may form a part of the box are classified.

DIAGNOSIS TO DETERMINE CLASSIFICATION.

(19) Inasmuch as nearly every patent contains disclosure that is claimed and also disclosure that is not claimed, it has been deemed advisable to establish the general rule that where the claimed and unclaimed disclosures are classified in different classes or subclasses the invention both disclosed and claimed shall determine the placing of a patent (or a pending application) rather than any selected invention that may be disclosed but not claimed. "Not claimed" covers means that may form an element only of a claim as well as means not referred to in any claim. (See exceptions in Rules 21 to 22 inclusive.)

Example: A patent discloses and claims a dash-pot but illustrates it in such relation to a metal-planing machine as to utilize it for checking the movement of the bed at one end of its path, or in connection with an electric generator to aid in effecting the brush adjustment; the patent should be classified in the subclass of Dash-pots. If the classifier finds the disclosed organization of dash-pots and planer or dash-pot and generator more than a conventional illustration of an obvious use, he should note a cross-reference to Planers or Electricity, Generation. A patent discloses an internal-combustion engine associated with a specific form of carbureter; the claims relate to the engine parts only; the class of Internal-Combustion Engines should receive the patent, and a cross-reference should be placed in Carbureters. A patent discloses and specifically claims the combination of a rail-joint comprising abutting rails, fishplates, and specific bolts; the patent goes to an appropriate class of rail-joints, and if the bolt is more than a mere obvious conventional bolt, a cross-reference should be noted for the appropriate subclass of Bolts.

(20) The totality of the claimed invention should be selected when possible to determine the appropriate class in which to place a patent. The entire expression of the invention will usually be set forth in the most relatively intensive claim.[1] In a properly drawn patent there is at least one claim that will serve as a mark to indicate the classification of that patent.

(21) Where a patent discloses but does not claim a combination of proper scope to be classified in a combination subclass and claims merely a detail classified in a subclass lower in the schedule, both in the same class, if the subclasses are so related that the combination always involves the detail so that a search for the detail must necessarily be made in the combination subclass, the patent may be placed in the combination subclass. This avoids the need of a cross reference into the combination subclass, and a lack of a copy in the detail subclass is immaterial, as it is seen in the completion of the search through the combination subclass. (See Rule 19.)

Example: A patent for a saw-making machine discloses dressing, jointing, and gaging mechanisms; it claims dressing and jointing only. There is a subclass for dressing, jointing, and gaging, and a subclass for dressing and jointing. In this case the patent may be placed in the first-mentioned subclass, as that must be searched always when the second-mentioned one is searched, cross referencing in this situation being of little value.

(22) Where a subclass with a generic title has indented thereunder a species type-subclass bearing the title of the generic subclass qualified by a difference, any patent which claims an invention falling within the genus subclass and discloses the qualification of the species type-subclass should be classified in the latter whether or not the entire disclosure is claimed. (See Rule 19.)

Example:

Class 29.—METAL WORKING. Machine chucks and tool sockets— Cam closing— 126. Scroll— 127. Bevel pinion or ring.



If a patent claimed only the scroll of a scroll-chuck, but disclosed it in connection with a bevel pinion and ring, it should be classified in subclass 127, Bevel pinion and ring, and not in subclass 126, Scroll, although if there were no disclosure of the bevel pinion and ring it would go in subclass 126. Any search for scrolls must be prosecuted through all subclasses that include "Scroll" in the title.

(23) Where, as in the case of patents that show and claim a combination that as matter of common knowledge is not new except in one of its elements, to classify a patent strictly in accordance with rule would result in placing the patent where it would serve no useful purpose as a reference and having to cross-reference it to a class where it would serve a useful purpose, it is best to classify the patent in the class to which the element would take it. (See Rule 19.)

Example: A patent claiming a wheeled vehicle, broadly, in combination with an internal-combustion engine comprising a cylinder, a crank-case, a piston and suitably-connected crank, a valve opening into the crank-case, and a valve in the piston opening into the cylinder, may be advantageously classified as an internal-combustion engine notwithstanding the alleged invention is for a motor vehicle.

(24) In order to meet the situation respecting the classification of those patents that indiscriminately claim an article of manufacture defined only by the material of which it is made and those patents that claim those materials, leaving to the specification information regarding the designed uses, patents for articles defined only by their ingredients specifically set forth may be placed in the composition of matter or material class. (See Rule 19.)

Example: A patent having a claim for a cutter made of an alloy of iron, tungsten, and manganese would be classified with Alloys; a patent claiming a box made of paper composed of two layers united by a solution of asphaltum should go to the class of Laminated Fabric and Analogous Manufactures, rather than to paper boxes; and a patent for a house having its exterior coated with equal quantities by volume of carbonate of lead and oxid of barium suspended in a vehicle of linseed-oil would be classified as a paint rather than as a house.

(25) An alleged process of utilizing a specifically-defined composition or material which consists in merely applying it to the use it was designed for may be classified as a composition or material rather than as a process. (See Rule 19.)

Example: A process of painting the bottom of a marine vessel which consists in applying thereto a composition consisting of sulphate of copper, powdered metallic zinc, chlorid of antimony, and hyposulphite of soda, in a vehicle of linseed oil, would be more usefully classified as an antifouling paint than as a ship, as the invention would hardly be distinguishable from a paint claimed as such and described for use on submarine surfaces.

(26) An alleged process consisting merely in the use of a particularly-defined machine or similar instrument operating according to its law of action will ordinarily be classified in the class or subclass where the machine belongs. But if in addition to defining the operation of a particular machine the claim also specifies acts not performed by the machine, the classification should be in the class or subclass in which the process belongs. (See Rule 19.)

Example: Thus a claim for a method of rolling an iron plate which consists in passing an iron blank between a pair of rolls arranged horizontally in juxtaposition one above the other and geared together so as to rotate in opposite directions, and causing an idle roll supported in bearings on the roll-housings to bear against the central portion of the surface of one of the first pair of rolls on the upper side thereof, should be classified as a rolling-mill, while if to that claim were added the steps of doubling the sheet after one passage between the rolls, again passing between the rolls, again doubling, and then passing the now four-ply pack between the rolls sidewise or turned 90 per cent to the direction in which it had previously been fed, the classification should be with processes of sheet-metal manufacture.

(27) In the absence of settled rules defining permissible joinder of inventions, there may be in one patent claims for one or more or all of the classes of invention named in the statute, to wit, machine, art, manufacture, and composition of matter. There may also be claims to several more or less related inventions in the same statutory class of invention but each belonging to a different industrial art. (1) Where different main classes are involved, the patent will be classified by the most intensive invention, without regard to the statutory class to which it belongs. (2) Where different subclasses of the same class are involved, the patent will be classified in that one of the several subclasses defined to receive the several inventions which stands highest in the schedule of subclasses.

(28) Where a patent contains claims for all or a plurality less than all of the statutory classes, the general rule of preference or superiority of the several classes of subclasses is that represented by the following order, to wit: (1) Machine (or other operative instrument); (2) Art; (3) Manufacture; (4) Composition of matter. This order is, in a general way, the order of intensiveness of the several kinds of invention. (See Rules 29-35.)

Example: An automatic screw-machine, peculiarly adapted to carry out a process of making a novel form of machine-screw out of a new iron alloy, and having a claim to the machine, to the process, to the screw, and to the alloy, would be assigned to Metal-Working, Combined machines, and, if all claims were allowed, cross-referenced to Bolt and rivet-making processes, to Bolts, and to Alloys. If the claim to any one or two of the subjects were eliminated, the order of preference or superiority and the order of cross-referencing would remain the same.

(29) Patents containing a plurality of claims for several different statutory kinds of invention that are classifiable in different main classes, and wherein the rule of relative intensiveness varies from the order Machine, Art, Manufacture, and Composition of matter, may be diagnosed and classified as directed in the following paragraphs (30 to 35).

(30) Where a patent contains claims for a process and for an apparatus susceptible of use as an instrument in carrying out the process, but not peculiar to that use, or for an apparatus adapted to carry out but one step or only a part of the process, the process claim, being in this instance the more intensive, would control the classification. (See Rule 28.)

Example: In a patent containing a claim for a process of roasting ore and then collecting the fumes, and another claim for a roasting furnace that is a mere material-heating furnace, the process claim would control; whereas, if one claim were for a method of roasting ores consisting of stirring the ore, applying heat to the same, and collecting the solids from the fumes, and the other claim, were for a heating furnace having a stirrer and a fume arrester, the apparatus claim would control. And if a patent contained claims for a process of roasting ores, and other claims for a furnace susceptible of use in carrying out the process but equally useful in annealing glass or steel articles, the process claim would control.

(31) Where a patent claims a specified article of manufacture or other product, and also an instrument for making a part only of that specified article or other product, the product claim, being more intensive, should control the classification; so also in case of a claim for a product and a claim for an instrument performing any minor act with respect thereto. (See Rule 28.)

Example: Where a patent claims a particular construction of a riveted joint, and also a tool for calking the rivet, and where a patent claims a particular construction of shoe, and also a buttonhook for buttoning said shoe, the article and not the tool claims control.

(32) Where a patent contains claims to a process and a product, the process claims govern the classification in those cases where search among machines for making the product would have to be made, and such processes would be classifiable on the basis of the mode of operation, usually in the same class with machines for practicing such processes. (See Rule 28.)

Example: A patent having a claim for a process of making bifocal lenses, consisting in grinding the surface of one piece of glass to form a convex lens, heating another piece of glass until it is plastic, then forcing the ground surface of the first-named piece into the body of the latter and gradually cooling the lens-blank thus formed; and also a claim for a bifocal lens composed of two pieces of glass weld-united, would be classified in Glass-manufacture and cross-referenced into lenses. Or a patent having a claim to a process of making a metal plate with elongated perforations, consisting in forming round perforations in the plate and subsequently rolling the plate, thereby thinning and elongating the plate and elongating the openings, and also a claim to a metallic plate having relatively long and narrow perforations, would be classified on the basis of the process claim.

(33) Where a patent claims both process and product, and the alleged process is disclosed in the product, so that search would have to be made in the appropriate class of products, the product will be adopted as the basis of classification, and classification will be in the appropriate product class. (See Rule 28.)

Example: A claim for a process of making a pencil consisting in assembling a core of graphite with a sheathing of wood, and attaching a cap of rubber-composition to one end, would be classified as a pencil rather than as a process, became conception of the article is inseparable from the process and search must be made in the article class.

(34) Where a patent claims a process of making a composition of matter, and also the composition of matter, the claims will be classified in general in accordance with the classification of the composition of matter in all cases where the process is peculiarly adapted to produce the composition, as by setting forth the introduction or assemblage of particular ingredients, since those processes that include the selection of particular ingredients necessitate search among compositions having such ingredients. (See Rule 28.)

Example: A patent having a claim for a composition consisting of a mixture of caoutchouc and casein, and a claim for the process of preparing a rubberlike substance which consists in adding undissolved raw caoutchouc to casein and thoroughly mixing and kneading the mass, would be classified according to the composition.

(35) Where a patent claims a product such as a specific article of manufacture, or a specific composition of matter, and also claims a process of general application for making one of the parts of the article or one of the ingredients of the composition, the product claim should control the classification. (See Rule 28.)

Example: If a patent claimed a woven textile fabric having the yarns interlaced in a defined relation, and a process of spinning a yarn utilized in the fabric; or if a patent claimed a varnish composed of shellac, dissolved in wood alcohol, and a pigment, and also contained a claim for distilling wood to obtain the alcohol, the product claim would control the classification in each instance, and the process would be cross-referenced.

[1] All terms have a meaning in extension and in intension. The meaning of a term in extension consists of the objects to which the term may be applied; its meaning in intension consists of the qualities necessarily possessed by objects bearing that name. The term "motors" in extension means all motors—electric, gas, water, spring, weight, etc. "Motors" in intension means instruments to convert some form or manifestation of energy into periodical or cyclical motion of a body. As the intension increases the extension decreases, and vice versa. There must be more motors than there are electric motors, and electric motors have more qualifications than are common to all motors. Comparison of arts and instruments with respect to their extension and intension for classification purposes should be made between comparable qualities. A claim for a steam-engine may be very specific while a claim for a reaper may be very broad; here there is no comparable relationship, and the terms intensive and extensive do not have the relative significance most useful in classification. But when a patent or application contains claims for mechanism peculiar to electric motors and other claims for mechanism common to electric motors and other kinds of motors, the claims for the electric motor would control the classification.



(D) PROCEDURE IN RECLASSIFYING WITHIN EXAMINING DIVISIONS.

(1) Do not start to make a new class or revise an old one with preconceived fixed notions respecting its scope and the particular subdivisions required. Wait until all patents pertinent to the subject have been seen and adequate knowledge of them acquired. In other words, make no a priori classification but discover and assemble all the facts and from them make your inductions. Then the common characteristics of the subject-matter of the class may be intelligently defined, the limitations of the class marked out, and its relation to other classes set forth. Bear in mind that the Patent Office classification deals with the subject-matter of the useful arts rather than merely with existing classes, and that it is not therefore essential to retain classes that are found to be composed of unrelated or too distantly related units.

Assuming that the work of reclassification is undertaken by examiners who are already experienced in the subject-matter to be classified, procedure as follows is recommended:

(2) Utilizing your previously acquired knowledge of the patents in the class you are about to revise, subdivide the existing subclasses into bundles, so as to assemble in each bundle those patents deemed to have the closest resemblance to each other. For the purpose of this assemblage, consider each patent as an entirety and not with reference to various more or less important parts of that entirety.

Example: An apparatus comprising in alleged combination a means for decanting water, a means for electrolytically depositing impurities, and a means for filtering the water, should not be classified either as a decanter, an electrolytic apparatus, or a filter, but should be classified as a combination apparatus (taking it to the general art of liquid purification). So also the combination of a rotary printing-press with a folding mechanism, and a wrapping mechanism, should not be classified merely as a rotary printing-press, a folding machine, or a wrapping machine, but should be classified as a combination of the several mechanisms as an entirety whose functions carried out in proper order produce a printed and wrapped newspaper.

(3) Write an approximate or tentative definition of the matter thus assembled in each bundle and attach it to its appropriate bundle.

(4) Where it appears that the subject matter of any bundle formed from the patents of any subclass is analogous to matter in other subclasses of the same class or in other classes, a note should be added to that effect so that this matter may be given special consideration.

(5) When the same examiner or different examiners are working on different subclasses containing analogous matter, parallel lines of subdivision should be followed wherever possible, in order to effect an arrangement that will facilitate comparisons.

(6) When subdividing a group of more or less complex organized structures or mechanisms, note should be taken of subcombinations that form or it is thought should form the basis of other subclasses, either in the same or different classes, into which those details may be collected, either classified therein originally or by cross-reference.

Example: Assuming that the combination of press, folder, and wrapping mechanism, referred to in a preceding paragraph is to be classified in a class of Printing, on the entirety as a combination having the function of printing, plus other functions, and that folding and also wrapping are separately classified, then the particular type of press should be selected to be cross-referenced into a press-type subclass of the class of Printing, such as "Presses, rotary," while the folding mechanism and the wrapping mechanism would be noted for cross-reference to other appropriate classes. Also, any part of the printing press, such as the inking mechanism, specifically described, should be noted for cross-reference into a subclass of Printing designed to receive the inking mechanism as a part of the printing press.

(7) After a knowledge of the material of the class has been obtained by estimating the resemblances between the individual patents that have been assembled in the several groups, comparison of these groups, represented by the bundles of photolithographs, by the aid of the approximate definitions and notes attached can be made. It can then be decided whether all of these groups are to be retained in the proposed class, and the retained groups can be organized into a class with the subclasses arranged so as to bring those subclasses having the strongest resemblances in closest relation, and in such order as to comply with the conventions adopted in the official classification. It will probably be necessary to have one subclass or group as broad as the definition of the class, to take unclassifiable matter and to provide for possible future inventions.

(8) Up to this point, more or less cursory attention may be given individual patents; but when an arrangement of subclasses shall have been tentatively adopted it will be necessary to consider each patent carefully to ascertain whether it is properly placed.

(9) Patents that, considered as an entirety, cover means not peculiar to the class or subject-matter being revised, should, in general, when assembled in groups as indicated, have a note attached indicating not only want of limitation to the subject-matter of the class but also a more appropriate class to receive them if such there be. Although a very large proportion of patents can be accurately classified as indicated by their titles and stated uses, the mere fact that in a patent found in a class the invention is called in the specification or claims by a name peculiar to the class is not of itself a reason for considering it peculiar to the class. A gas and liquid contact apparatus may be called a heater, a cooler, a gas-washer, a water-carbonator, a condenser, a disinfecter, an air-moistener, and so on, depending upon accident of use. If there are not elements in some claim to confine the means described distinctively to what it is called, or if there are no functions necessarily implied in the means claimed peculiar to the named use, the patent should not be kept in the class unless there is no other class in the office that can receive it.

Example: Where the matter claimed is a metal beam of peculiar cross-section, it should be classified with other metal beams, as in Class 189, Metallic Building Structures, even if it is named in the application as a beam of particular use, as a railroad-tie, car-sill, bridge-tie, etc. Should a mere dash-pot be found classified in Class 171, Electricity, Generation, a note should be attached indicating that it belongs in the appropriate element class.

(10) In giving this final careful attention to the patents, each should also be scanned to see whether it contains matter that should be cross-referenced. A few lines obscurely located in a specification may contain a disclosure of a most valuable invention. No class can be deemed complete until the disclosures appropriate to it found as parts of more complex inventions in other classes, or disclosures of analogous matter in other classes, are either cross-referenced into it or cross search-notes made.

(11) To indicate cross-references, from one subclass to another within the class or from the class under consideration into another class, attach a small slip of paper to the patent and mark on the slip the subclass number in which the cross-reference shall be mounted. If the matter to be cross-referenced relates only to a portion of a voluminous patent, the portion of the specification and drawing to be cross-referenced should be indicated. If the cross-reference falls outside the class, the class number should be noted in addition to the subclass number.

(12) Should it be found that the handling of copies in making examinations detaches the cross-reference slips, it may be advisable to mark lightly but legibly in pencil on the lower right-hand corner of the examiner's photolithograph the number of the subclass or subclasses into which it is to be cross-referenced, or the number of the class and subclass in case it is to be cross-referenced to another class.

(13) Whether cross-reference notations are written on a separate slip or on the photolithograph, the number of the class and subclass into which a patent is to be cross-referenced should always be preceded by X (thus X 101-23) in order to distinguish the original classification notation from the cross-reference notation and enable sorting and indexing to be done without confusion.

(14) To indicate cross-references from other classes into the one being reclassified, set down the number of the patent in a notebook, placing after the number (1) the class and subclass in which it is classified; and (2) the number of the class and subclass in which it is to be cross-referenced.

(15) Should new subclasses be formed or transfers of patents be determined on, and lists of the patents, instead of copies thereof, be furnished clerks for the purpose of making such subclasses and transfers and correcting the official indexes and other records, each patent should be listed by number in column to the left of a sheet of paper or notebook, and opposite each patent number on the same sheet should be written (1) the number of the class and subclass in which it is officially classified; (2) the number of the class and subclass to which it is intended to transfer it; and (3) the numbers of the classes and subclasses, preceded by X, into which it is intended to cross-reference it.

Note: Even though examiners engaged in reclassifying are confident of their ability to classify and arrange on better principles than those that have been applied thus far in the classification, they ought, nevertheless, to follow those principles under which one-half of the patents have been classified. Until the Commissioner of Patents orders examiners to classify on other principles, it is expected they will follow those now established.



- Transcriber's Note: Every effort has been made to replicate this text as faithfully as possible, including obsolete and variant spellings and other inconsistencies. For readability, the footnotes have been moved to the end of the relevant chapter. -